The Gilded Mesa

A jagged plateau rises from the barren wastelands, known as The Gilded Mesa. Trails and handholds carved into the twisted, jagged cliffs that mark the mesa’s unstable sides are the only way up to its peak. At its summit lies the Zölskeel, a massive golden vertebral column gleaming where it emerges from beneath the sandstone. Two towering horns on the western edge frame the Withering Gateway, a shimmering void said to distort time and reality. Despite the dangers, the mesa is far from deserted—its treasures and mysteries have drawn prophets, treasure hunters, and madmen alike.
Deeper: The mesa’s cliffs are treacherous, constantly shifting, creating sinkholes, rockfalls, and unpredictable collapses [1:D4 Mountaineering / Turn]. Beneath its surface lies a labyrinth of tunnels, rumored to house the Golden Skull of the Zölskeel—the supposed phylactery of its "ghost." Temporal Beasts, creatures warped by time’s fractures, prowl the mesa’s periphery, phasing in and out of existence without pattern or purpose. Voices echo unnaturally across the mesa, carrying distorted words on sudden, shifting winds that glide through tears in space-time.
The Zölskeel, believed to be the remains of a titanic beast whose calamitous death punctured the earth, dominates the plateau. The spine’s segments suggest a quadrupedal creature with a powerful neck and shoulders crested like a bull gaur. Treasure hunters seek fragments of the spine—splinters of bone that have flaked away from the main skeleton, pitted with gold veins and sinew. Prophets claim these fragments hold immense power but to cut from the skeleton is a death sentence—the curse of delusion, rapid aging, and possession is quite real.
At the western edge of the mesa lies the Withering Gateway, embedded between two crusted golden horns. The void ripples like water under moonlight and flickers with images of impossible, otherworldly places. Members of the Resurrection Cult, cloistered in cliffside hovels and churches, believe the gateway holds the key to divine realms. While some claim to have passed through, few return unchanged—those who do bear strange scars of body and mind, often whispering of alien geometries and impossible worlds.
Temporal Beasts

D6	Base	Defense	Offense	Quirk
1	Squid	Chitinous armor	Acidic fangs	Webs that warp time, freezing prey
2	Jellyfish	Temporal shielding aura	Ram with explosive energy	Charges leave afterimages
3	Starfish	Reflective, mirrored wings	Sonic shriek	Echos disorient opponents
4	Worms	Scales that absorb light	Talons infused with fire	Mimics sounds to lure prey
5	Eels	Shedding skin leaves decoys	Venom that ages targets	Sheds glowing, time-warping scales
6	Lampreys	Regenerates rapidly	Spikes that extend when struck	Pieces split into smaller beasts